Jockey Stewart Elliott gets a face full of mane as he guides Kentucky Derby hopeful West Side Bernie through a workout at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, April 25, 2009. Photo by Ed Reinke | AP.

I did not have to look far for my horse today in the Kentucky Derby. Not past post position one.

When it comes to picking ponies, I’ll read, I’ll look for things I like. But it’s really in the name for me, and here is the passage from Alicia Wincze’s notes from the backstretch column that made Bernie my man:

Owner George Hall said his wife Lori names all their horses and said that West Side Bernie “is all Broadway.”
“He’s by Bernstein so she immediately thought of Leonard Bernstein, who wrote West Side Story,” Hall said. “That’s how Bernie got his name. They’re putting on a revival of West Side Story now and we’re involved in that as a Fundraiser for the Hearing Center at New York University.”

I think Bernstein is the greatest American conductor ever and he wrote some great musicals too, so obviously I’m partial to the Hall’s tastes.

Bernie is 48-1 in the morning line, but hello, Giacomo, these artsy named longshots have come through for me before. I also like the story of first-time trainer Kelly Breen and the story of his stable-mate, Atomic Rain, who is somewhat the opposite of Bernie as his name sounds like some punk band playing a dive bar in the early 1980s.

So, that’s where I’ll put most of my modest bets.

It was a late night last night at the Barnstable-Brown Gala. Check out the slide show and video, and I’ll write again from the Downs.